To outsiders, fighting games, in general, can seem somewhat intimidating. Established titles in the genre like Street Fighter and Tekken are dominated by pros who have been honing their skills at the game for years, and smaller franchises can often seem obtuse and insular to a player with little experience in the genre.
In reality, however, 2021 is shaping up to be an outstanding year for fighting games, and in turn, an outstanding time for newcomers to start dipping their toes into the genre. With an impressive assortment of highly-anticipated titles on the horizon, renewed interest in some of the genre's more established franchises, and the long-awaited arrival of some much-needed technical improvements, now is an excellent time for gamers to dive into fighting games.
Street Fighter V Is In A Good Place
Street Fighter V has something of a complicated reputation due to the negative reaction it received from fans during its initial launch. This reaction wasn't necessarily undeserved, and fans felt justified in their complaints that the game lacked content, that characters felt too same-y, and that several technical issues were going unaddressed.
The game has come a long way since then, however, now featuring more than 40 characters (with more on the way) and a host of new mechanics to make both offense and defense more interesting. While it can be hard to overcome first impressions, many of the game's early issues have been resolved, making V a worthy successor to the Street Fighter legacy.
Rollback Netcode Is Becoming The Standard
One of the most persistent issues that plagued fighting games in the past was their seriously outdated netcode solution. Even big-budget titles like Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros. used it, and are still using multiplayer code that results in frustrating, laggy matches.
Fortunately, many developers have taken notice of the vastly superior "rollback" solution to online infrastructure. This technology has been ported to many older games like King of Fighters 2002, and several major upcoming titles, like Guilty Gear Strive, promise to have rollback implemented as well. Modern netcode solutions appear to be the future of fighting games, which hopefully means that the days of outdated multiplayer are waning.
Melty Blood
Japanese indie developer French Bread's game Melty Blood might be unfamiliar to gamers without much of a background in fighting games, but the 2002 title has maintained an extraordinarily dedicated fanbase since its release for a reason.
Melty fans have a lot to be excited for, too, as French Bread recently announced a surprise sequel to the original game, happily promising to include rollback netcode as well. Melty's scene might be somewhat small, but this new release is sure to generate new interest. At any rate, Melty, among other highly anticipated titles, are making 2021 shape up to be a great year for fighting game fans.
It's Now Easier Than Ever To Find Community Resources
Long gone are the pre-internet days of the arcade, where the only way to learn how to play a game was to succumb to the brutal process of trial and error, feeding dozens of quarters into a machine until something finally started to make sense. Social media platforms like Twitch and Discord have completely changed the ways fans can interact with each other in the fighting game scene.
The advent of dedicated Discord servers has been especially beneficial to smaller games, like Under Night In-Birth. Less-popular games might not have as many established resources as bigger titles like Street Fighter do, but being able to engage with the community at large through Discord enables new players to easily ask for games or advice from their more experienced peers.
Riot's Project L
One of the upcoming titles that has the fighting game community abuzz with discourse is the League of Legends-themed fighter in development at Riot Games, known at this point only by the codename "Project L." Players have speculated as to exactly what sort of game Project L will be, but the one thing that can be assured is that with the League label attached to it, it's sure to draw attention.
Longtime fans are hoping that Project L brings a good amount of new blood into the fighting game scene, and this hope seems to be fairly well-founded. Riot's foray into tactical shooters, Valorant, has done well for itself, so it's reasonable to assume that Project L will generate interest in the genre as well.
Super Smash Bros. Is More Popular Than Ever
Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate shattered sales records, unseating the legendary Street Fighter 2 as the best-selling fighting game of all time. With the outstanding success of Ultimate, it's not surprising that the game's competitive scene is thriving as well.
It's not just Ultimate that's enjoying something of a moment, though: Melee fans have developed an online multiplayer function compatible with popular emulators, which allows people to play together all over the world. With these two parallel Smash games continuing to enjoy huge popularity, new players can look forward to entering a thriving community if they choose to get into either game.
Tekken 7 Is Enjoying A Renaissance
For a while, it seemed like Tekken was past its prime, with the halcyon days of smash hits like Tekken 3 being a thing of the past. That all changed with the resurgent popularity of Tekken 7, however, which handily put Tekken back on the top of the 3D fighting game food chain.
Today, Tekken 7 enjoys one of the fastest-growing communities of any fighting game. Despite its somewhat opaque controls and lack of any sort of workable tutorial, the community has put in the work to make the game accessible to newcomers by generating an enormous amount of tutorial content aimed at nearly any skill level one can think of.
Guilty Gear Strive
Another upcoming game that has players excited is the highly-anticipated Guilty Gear Strive; the latest entry in the fast-paced fighting game series. One of the most exciting things about this release is the inclusion of, once again, rollback netcode, which promises to make the online experience smoother than previous games in the series.
While Guilty Gear's long combos and advanced movement options can seem intimidating at first, the community is always ready to help new players become die-hard fans. With the amount of hype Strive is generating, there definitely hasn't been a better time to get into Guilty.
King Of Fighters XV
Developer SNK's storied fighting game franchise, The King of Fighters, also has an upcoming release slated for 2021. This team-based fighter typically has a huge roster of eccentric characters, and the developers have confirmed that the game will include a rollback netcode solution to facilitate better online play.
Nintendo Switch owners who became familiar with King of Fighters through Terry Bogard's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. have reason to be hopeful as well: while it hasn't yet been confirmed, SNK's previous fighting game -- Samurai Showdown -- received a Switch port, which means that KoF XV might as well.
In-Person Tournaments
Fighting games have been in a somewhat awkward position as of late due to the omnipresence of the COVID-19 pandemic. A big part of the appeal of fighting games is the thrill of in-person competition, and the large-scale tournaments where the best players compete, which have both become unfeasible on account of the pandemic.
Little by little, however, in-person fighting games seem to be making a comeback as the pandemic (hopefully) draws to a close and vaccines become available. New players will want to pay attention to upcoming events, and check whether their local arcades are hosting tournaments to get a taste of what playing in-person can be like.